Perpetuating Colonial Epistemology
Walter Mignolo wrote that, “imagery of the modern/colonial world system located the production of knowledge in Europe”, signaling the monopolizing tendencies of a colonial power during and after the colonization of a specific space. Many former colonial lands suffer from colonial traumas, from a tangible and intangible standpoint. Thus, there are many physical representations of these scars in the places that were colonized while the less obvious scars are narrated through a hegemonic lens. These disenfranchised lands constantly place the power of their progression through the perspective of their colonizer, thus giving them the superiority that they established as the oppressor. The issue that lies in many former colonies does not have to with its progress, but the perpetuation of colonial power structures, that were set in place to create a separation between the subjects that formed part of that given society. The aftermath of the colonial domination presented knowledge production as something that could only be help by the superior, a European subject. By this notion, the colonized subjects will not be able to obtain this form of knowledge, since they are kept outside of this epistemological circle. Therefore, the former colonized societies have transformed into a state of colonized knowledge, that unconsciously reiterates colonial power structures through an institutionalized realm.
In class we have looked many political theories that address the performative factors of a political spectacle. Political figures and government representatives often portray a version of things that carries out their narrative. The political spectacle in a former colony such a Jamaica, carries out the task through the reiteration of the colonial mentality, which created political structures that is based on inferiority and superiority. Therefore, linking this colonization of knowledge in Jamaica to Judith Butlers, Notes Towards a Performative Theory of Assembly, gives a more obvious view of the physical aspects of this political spectacle and the underlying unconscious perpetuations of these colonial societal hierarchies. For Butler, the body is a physical perspective of the act of a political stance. However, if the body is not conscious of its role in continuing a discriminatory form of thinking, then it further complicates a change in mentality on a national level. Thus, there is a creation of dominance over the ethic, social, and ecology of political spectacles and the politics of performativity. The isolated induvial from the assembly is representative of the continuous colonial power, and the force that they carry is the act of propagating this epistemological force that looks to a hegemonic ideology of knowledge. According to Butler, “we miss something of the point of these public demonstrations if we fail to see that the very public character of the space is being disputed, and even fought over, when these crowds gather” (p. 71). Therefore, many bodies in the same demonstration are not fully aware of their roll in this reencounter with the new temporal space, that is disputing the ancient regimens.
In Jamaica, the political scene is dominated by corruption and continuing the colonial political regimen that existed for centuries. Even though the country was emancipated in the early 60s, it is as if the nothing has shifted to represent the country for what is isolated from a mother country. It is with this backwards mentality that the colonization of knowledge is able to dominate the society. Looking from a racial perspective, the Jamaican society still subscribe to the idea of a color spectrum. Hence, promoting the racial division that existed during the years of colonization on the island. There is a societal understanding that the lighter you are the more intelligent and well-spoken you are. The darker skinned members of the population, which is the majority, occupy the last position of the hierarchy in the Jamaican population. This system dates back to the one created with the governance of the colony. Though, many subjects in Jamaica are conscious of this centralized discrimination, the society does not react in a way to eradicate this mentality and create a philological base that reflects the diversity of the society. Consequently, the society has retaliated against this racial issue by ironically turning to bleaching. Bleaching is the act of lightening one’s skin using different creams made with various chemicals that will make the skin lighter. This epidemic in the Jamaican society is a now a cultural movement, and a way of style. This is a direct link to the colonial mentality that was established in the island, that lead to an epistemological dominance that made the population of European descendants and racial mixed families superior to the African descendant population. As result, this has now become the new face of the colonial mentality that is present in the Jamaican society, and one that continues to perpetuate a system that produced and created a new culture that is then placed outside of the hegemonic European epistemology.
This structure of racial hierarchy is not only upheld in the society but also in the political spectacle of the country. By the same token, the members of parliament that are the face of the society are that of European descent. They are elected because they are seen as the people who hold the superior knowledge in Jamaica, therefore they can represent the country on an international level. Comparatively, Butler states that, “we see some ways bodies in their plurality lay claim to the public, find and produce the public through seizing and reconfiguring the matter of material environments; at the same time, those material environments are part of the action, and they themselves act when they become the support for action” (p. 71). In this political climate based on colonial undertones, the bodies that are participating in the political spectacle are aware of the hierarchical system, however they are helping to uphold it, while placing themselves outside of the assembly. On one side, there are subjects acknowledging the political problems in the society but there is not a united front, since the popular mentality is the colonial mentality. The same bodies that are affected by the problem are the same bodies that refuses to work together to solve the problem. Again, sustaining the political structure that actively exclude them from the political representation. Likewise, in Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly, the author states, “this time of the interval is one in which assembled bodies articulate a new time and space for the popular will, not a single identical will, not a unitary will, but one that is characterized as alliance of distinct and adjacent bodies whose action and whose inaction demand a different future” (p. 75). This in turn is a portrayal of performative power, that goes beyond the natural law of things, since it is not yet forged into that system. Therefore, there is a demand for action using the body as its main focus and creating this performativity. In the case of the Jamaican society, even if the bodies come together and congregate, there is a rift between the understanding of the political and societal problem linked to its colonial history since the majority of the population believes that that system is the correct formation for a society and its inhabitants.
In conclusion, due to the strong colonial past of Jamaica the societal understanding of the world is defined through a hegemonic lens that was created by the colonial powers, Europe. Though the subjects in the Jamaican society represent a new form of culture and understanding of their world, they unconsciously and consciously perpetuate the epistemology of the former colonial bodies. Not just on an epistemological standpoint but from a political perspective. Judith Butler suggests that gathering bodies can bring about political change, where demands are made to create a change that is needed. But what happens when these bodies gather but are no insisting upon a change but rather sustaining the problem that needs to be changed? This is the case in my home country, the mentality of the society is so deep-rooted in colonial principles that is merely impossible to congregate and bring change towards a dominating epistemological presence that is the coloniality of knowledge.
Key words:
Reiterated Power, conferring of rights in politics, and Identification